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    Once A Hero - The Vanishing Cinema of Hong Kong

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    Angus Au
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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 41
    ONCE A HERO The Vanishing Hong Kong Cinema : Perry Lam or serge HONG KONG CINEMA has never been krovn for its musical taste. Endowed with what Hoel Coward called “a alent to amuse,” isflmmaters usually prefer the instant gatfiation that comes from their characte’ rapidire dialogue and verbal punning tothe subtlety of music synchronized to images. “The soundtrack of ERA; Wong Kara's. (TERRE). (in the Mood jr Love) (2000) s the exception that proves the rule. Featuring Nat King Cle singing Perhaps, Perhops, Perhaps ‘Aquelo Os Verdesand Magic is the Moonlight, conjures up a wort of easy pleasure tat sharply contrasts and gelly mocks the one inhabited bythe mavi's self denying, self punishing couple, SRSHIE (Tony Leung ond HRB (Meggle Cheung) Yet the song that keeps playing in my mind these days, as | sitin the theater watching Hong Kong movie, i Frank Sinatra's Angel Eyes: Pardon me but goto run The fac's uncommonly clear 1 got to find who's now the number one ‘And vity my angel eyes ain't here Excuse me while | disappear “The “uncommonly clear" facts that, unapologetically and without making fuss like 2 serial lover dumping his current itlend so he can move onto hs next conquest - Hong Korg Einema hasbeen pulling "isappearng at” since the ciy's ONCE A HERO Excuse me while I disappear ‘otum to Chinese sovereignty on July, 1997. Hong Kong cinema a we knew itis coming to an end. But the wold dovsn't seer to gve a damn, 2s if Holywood had already leamed, bought ‘or appropriated everything usefl from Hong Kong cinema ‘Asa resuh, rather like tourists visting an ancient tomb, the world is likey to go on for quite long time talking of Hong ong cinema and writing about it, pretonding all the while ot fo notice thatthe ral thing has not only changed beyond recognition, but gone for good ‘What mates a Hong Kong movie a Hong Kong movie? sit nerve racking chases, ootop encounters deirousy binding Pytotechnics? sit sky stunts and eye popping kungfu action scones, tossed off ike one liners with @ maddening rythm? is it something the characters say or do something that conveys palpable sense of what tmeans tobe ave and kicking in Hong ong sit the presence of vision - or atleast an idea ~ that splays an inate understanding of Hong Kong people? This no idle question The real story about Hong Kong films _ after the city’s return to Chinese Sveieignty in te dramatic eclng in-hic creativity on ie fo draw people to the theater. is the surgical removal oftheir distinctiveness as movies ng. In their eagermess o grab and please the (much larger audience on the mainland, Hong Kong lmmakers now «churn out movies with ready-made plots, many of them pawored by simple domographics. 'm2003, for example, somebody, somewhere must have done ONCE AHEROM mw mY ee the math and worked out that CACEIREEED (Al's Wel, Ends Wield ~ the FELEBME (Stephen Chow) comedy that became the I highest grossing Hong Kong movie in 1952 - was al of years od, : and thata whole swathe of people inthe mainland had never seen i it So now was the time to give them CA°AH8%2009) (Al's | Wel, Ends Wel 2009), which you Rave to applaud for shee fly. i “ho move was so well eeived inthe mailand that he folowing \ yearthey released (SC7AEEE2010). (Al's Well Ends Wel i 2010), a product ofsurpassing stupidity. | “There is nating disreputable about produces rooting trough sed materl, and one can easly Find cogent reasons for arguing thatthe future of Hong Kong cinema is in embracing te China market. Nevertheless, smell more desperation than inspiration inthe race to make Hong Kong cinema mainiand-‘iendly For instance, (FFE) (Bodyguards and Assesin) may be the 1 biggest winner atthe 2010 Hong Kong Film Awards, but it wears ts | silliness like a badge of honor, and there's a perceptible thinness | to he sheen fits procedings, Director BGR Cede Chen) seems unable to decide whether he wants to make a mafal arts action film ora revolutionary epic, and ends up squarely onthe embarrassing idle ground in between. The movi seven Karder to svalion because iis totally unaware ots own absurdity. Hong Kong moves used to display a wise knowingness about ‘nat makes the iy te; what local viewers got from these movies ‘waste untae, unitate pleasure ofrecogrion. The \ ‘SEES (Mo le tu) ype of humor in f)EBBE Stephen Chow's Vim m ONCE AHERO. movies, for instance is designed to ect knowing laughter fom viewers To say that Mol tas jus sil tlk 2 BBC's fl citic Jonathan Ross i, to miss altogether the irc cultural pride of Hong Kong peopl, which this unique brand of kumor both hinges on and plays. upon. Seeninthislight, “SEABED. (Infernal for) 2002), featuring two undercover agents as oppesingheroes~and one of the topossng posthandover Hong Kong movies made primarily with the Hong Kong people in mind - shone with the blinding brighiess of sting sun Tho remarkable success of Hong Kong; which transformed itself from a ishing village into a worl-lss financial center under Bish colonial rl, was the produc of collusive colonialism. Its people, known for their pragmatism and rsoureulnss, prospered by acivly cooperating wih, and leamingiom, their colonial masts. Thi is atone the dar secret and the cxignal sin ‘of Hong Kengars, who, asthe old Chinese saying goes, "rested the thiafas the father BBREPESD. ‘Theresa thin line betwee collective ul and mas fata. {Local fimmakers, ose job iso make viewers fel god about themsebres, came up witha dstnctly HongKong species of movie her, ane that Hong Koi people could relate toeven deni ith As tagicher, the undercover agent has no choice butt “eat ia asthe father ad go deap into the enemy’ operation He nn ident, sanity and if inthe proces, yt he remains misunderstood, mistecogiaad and misrepresented othe biter end. ONCE A HEROM ‘This undercover complex, ifyou wil, of Hong Kong cinema ‘represents one ofits majo strengths - Hong Kong filmmakers ‘know better than almost anyone else how to get under the skin ofan undercover agent. Avatars the word's, and Hong Kong's, top grossing movie of all time and Ihave take to several local filmmakers about it. They were mortified, awed or humbled by it None of them came away from the movie with a renewed sense of ‘ride in the strengths and uniqueness of Hong Kong dnema ~ but ‘they should have. Jake, the exmmarine in Avatar (played by Sam Worthington), isan undercover agent. Direcior James Cameron did not do ‘anything original with this character, apart from making him a ‘al fighting machine who can spring through the forest like a ‘wild monkey. With state-of the-art technology at his disposal, Cameron chose to tell the old story of Pacahontas and John ‘Smith, with heavy borrowings from Kevin Costner's (BUGS B88) (Dances with Wolves} and Tom Cruise's (HBR) (The Last Samured. A white man, who is himself an outsider in his own society, spends some time with an alien people is won over, and makes a quixotic attempt to defend them against the hostile, advancing civilization that will annihilate ther, ‘This Is too narrow a view of what sociologists would call the relationship betweon the self and the other. f Cameron hhad seen and understood infernal Affairs, he would know that jumping to the other side of the barricade always amounts to a sort of betrayal, regardless of whether it's the right or wrong Yl mm ONCE A HERO side that you have chosen. A movie with @ spy or undercover ‘agent atits center shouldn't be just @ morality play about ‘B00d versus evil, but also needs to be a psychodrama about guilt and contict, Infernal Aes comes across a a highly sexual afi conveying 2 Benuine sense of pleasure in trespassing and violation -a movie, {ike its heroes played by 22818 (Tony Leung) and BYE (andy au), immersed in despair, uit and, paradoriclly,slfindugence and redemption. Cameron’ fm, by contrast. is intrested only in the idea, not the complicated experience, of going undercover, ‘That's why Cameron and his writers never bothered to create bond between jake and the audience. The moiie's principal pleasure comes from its excess and extravagance, aot rom the private moments and agonies ofits characters. ‘But this distinctiveness has somehow vanished from. ‘mainstrearn Hong Kong cinema. Taken as a whole, Hong Kong. ‘cinema after infernal Afirsis ata oss without ts heroes, This ‘book is partly a description of that loss, and partly an eyewitness ‘account ofthe attempt of Hong Kong cinema to ceinvent itself during the four years fom 2007 to 2010: It examines the Successes and failures of the city's mast famous auteurs, and Puts the spotlight on 2 few talented newcomers who now carey ‘the burden of injecting new life into the seemingly bummt-out local. Cinema. Finally 25 the future of Hong Kong cinema is increasingly bound up with thet ofthe cinema.on the mainland, no book on Hong Kong cinema would be complete without discussing the Fecent works of major Chinese filmmakers, vengeance p15 CHAPTER 1 Reinventing Heroism Hong Kong cinema has always been a cinema ‘of hero worship, Gangsters, cops, undercover agents, kung fu masters and swordsmen fired the imagination ofits filmmakers who created stunning spectacles and compelling drama as vehicles for the city’s favorite sons. Itis not surprising, therefore, that the effort to revitalize Hong Kong cinema since the handover could be boiled down to an attempt to reinvent heroism, MEACTION MEN ‘The different heroic styles of Bruce Lee, Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan “This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.” Change “the world” to “his reign,” and these famous lines, from TS. EliotsThe ‘Hollow Men, are a fitting epitaph for 2 (Jackie Chan)'s career as Chinese cinema's leading action hero. ‘When 41s (Bruce Lee) died at the age of 32, on July 20, 1973, the whole world was shocked, and his iconie status as king, ifnot god, of kung fu-—and the most influential martial artist of the 20th century ~ was etched into the collective memory of te global audience. ‘When Ghan's character, a deserting soldier who wanted nothing more from life than a tiny piece of farmland he could call his own, was pierced by 100 arrowsnear the end ofhslast major Chinese movie, (SEAM) (iti Big Soldier), Hong Kong moviegoers barely took notice. Littl Big Soldier, released during Lunar New Year 2010, without the usual fanfare that ‘once accompanied Jackie Chan blockbusters, grossed slightly over HKS1.5 02 mm mONCE AHERO million (US$200,000), making iby far the least-watched ofall Chan’s movies ‘inHiong Kong. Chan's fall from the top was paralleled and, to an extent, precipitated by the rise of BE/5 (Donnie Yen). Yen's two (388). (ip Man) movies hired hundreds of thousands of viewersback tothe local theaters, them ina kind of patriotic frenzy and kang fu rapture that has long been ‘the guilty pleasure of watching the crudely made movies of Bruce Lee. The Lunceremonious dethroning of Chan asthe king of Hong Kong action movies represented a pivotal moment in the hisoryoflocal cinema, but received scant tical aention. This isa pity for what was bestabout Chan and his movies also represents what was best about Hong Kong cinema, and goes along way towards explaining ts appeal to the global audience ofthe 1960s and 1990s, Yen may be the man of the moment, but is popularity is a worrying, telltale sign that Hong Kong cinema isn't developing at all, but regressing Ait history isin order here, Bruce Lee returned from Hollywood to star in QIRLWASEY (The Big Boss), which launched his career in 1971, The following yearin (483%!) (Fistof Fury), the movie that made him a hhexo of colonial resistance all over the world, he made Japanese students ‘swallow a sign referring to the Chinese as "HRI" (Sick Men of Asia), and smashed another sign that read “SASL APY" (No Dogs and Chinese Allowed) with a flying kick. That was atime when China was still ‘having its lover's quarrel with the est ofthe world and was almost 30 years ‘way from being admitted into the World Trade Organization; Hong Kong, ‘not yet affluent British colony, wes suffering from the endemic corruption ‘that would later lead to the establishment of the Independent Commission ‘Against Corruption in 1974 Im shor, the times cried out for a hero [Bruce Lee, who had experienced ‘acial discrimination in his Hollywood days, rose to the occasion in roaring, spectacular style, Seen today, his movies may be nothing but silly revenge fantasies, but they were out fantasies, and it was a thrill to see these REINVENTING HEROISM fantasies played out before us. Lee's charisma, cultural pride and burning rage not to mention his incomparable physical grace and eloguent body language ~ exuded a confidence practically unknown to Chinese actors | before him and created a terrific force field for local ieee) I Butwe have come along way since then. If (RII) (Legend of the i Fist: The Return of Chen Jen), in which Donnie Yen plays the same iconic | ‘martial arts character that Lee immortalized in Fist of Fury, never cises | to the level of effective drama, it's not solely because Yen has only one- tenth of his idol’ passion —he's like Kenny G playing a signature tune of | Charlie Parker, The movie just isnt charged by social or political realities that justify, if only poetically, the righteous violence committed against its villains. As a result, scenes in which Yen outruns bullets, annihilates an entire German squad and kills a Japanese colonel with his bare hands, ere Just spectacles. They don’ electrify the senses. Director BIf@34 (Andrew Lau) proves himself to be a master of fascination, but not of drama. He creates stunning shots rather than an intricate story, and the movie becomes a prime document of Hong Kong cinema's undying fetishism of| Bruce Lee. ‘Yen and Lau, instead of being fixated on the dead hero, should try to learn | afew lessons from the very much alive and kicking Jackie Chan, Like almost every leading man in local martial arts movies after Bruce Lee, Chan started by imitating the great icon. But it didn't take him long to find his own voice and create his own style of heroism| Lee is the hero as superman. To admire him is to worship the cultof the bodyas a machine that: se Chan, in contrast, represents the hero as al-too-human underdog His contained charisma and paradoxical modesty are perfect for this role-fie doesn’t ssylize or ironize Lee's grief and rage, but gives himself almost selflessly to ‘he material. He's a fighter, so he inflicts pain too. But he is most heroic and ‘awe-inspiring as he takes, not gives, pain. And he wins our admiration not because he's invincible, but because of his intelligence and resourcefuiness, 04 m a ONCE AHERO REINVENTING HEROISM ‘The best of Jackie Chan's movies, suchas {HSU3E) (Police Story), (Ast BI) (ProjeceA) and (RUPE) (Dragon Lond, are skateboards that ‘viewers can ride for pleasure. They ate cleverly designed, smartly conceived and flawlessly executed. Chan's intelligence as an action choreographer is matched by his dexterity and speed —and what incredible speed - as a stuntman and action man. But time eatches up with even the fastest ‘man on earth; Chan, now 57, long ago stopped making movies that were satisfactory by the high standards he had set for himself, or even giving has lms any kind of satisfying shape. Chan himself knows this very well, ‘and it must hurt him to feel that Hong Kong cinema doesn't seera to need hhim anymore. Revealingly, his characters in his lasttwo Hong Kong movies, — GBT) (Shinjuku Incident) and Litee Big Solder —both die more tragically than heroically at the end of ther stories. But the facts that Hong Kong filmmakers still have much to lear from his style and method, and Jocal cinema has become a much les fun place to visit without him. MESHINJUKU INCIDENT (if Directo by Derok Yoo FZ Jackie Chan HERE Daniel Wu S/H. Xu Jingle RAE Released Api, 2009 te) In my younger, more carefree days I taught a course on Asian cinema in Hong Kong to classes of four to 14 students from some of the mote prestigious U.S. universities. Every time Iwanted to breathe some new life into the class —when I noticed the blonde sitting in the back looking at her cell phone one time too many, or the tall fellow sitting next to her trying to suppress a yawn -I showed them clips from a RG Glackie Chan) movie. Whether hanging by an umbrella on a speeding double-decker bus, Jumping off the roof of one car and through the windshield of another, ot sliding down a six-storey-high pole ina shopping mall we recognize, Chan. tediscovers Hong Kong for us as a playground for adventure. While other leading men of Hong Kong cinema ~ from J#2E (Chow Yun-fat) to 521) ‘% CTony Leung Chiu-wai) —are romanticizing the city by falling in love 06 mm MONCE A HERO REINVENTING HEROISM ‘with its beautiful women, Chan is having a romance with the city jtself. He ‘makes love to it with the agility ofa great athlete. He knows al the pleasure zones of Hong Kong, just as Casanova knows the bodies of his women, ‘That's why Chan seldom needs love interest in his movies. For me, no other actor represents Hong Kong cinema in the way that Chan does, Jackie Chan is Hong Kong cinema, Sol can't help but have a sinking feeling when I see Chan play Steelhead, a mainlander, in (FB83E(F) (Shinjuku Incident), the controversial flm by #48 (Derek Yee) which is banned in China, supposedly for its graphic violence. Speaking fluent Putonghua, Chan is surprisingly convincing as a tractor repairman who sneaks into ‘Japan illegally ater losing contact with his girlfriend Xiu Xiu, played by mainland actress #92 Ou Jingle’). ‘The Chinese immigrant community in Tokyo isa world apart from the small village from which Steelhead comes. Ostracized by mainstream society and hounded by the local yakuza and the Taiwanese triads who ‘work for them, Steelhead and his fellow villager and best friend Jie, played by 582548 (Daniel Wu), find staying alive on this foreign and often hostile soil daily struggle. The uprightand honest Steelhead saon realizes that to ‘make a decent living, the Chinese immigrants have to stand together as one. He also discovers that Xiu Xiu has adopted a Japanese identity by marrying Eguchi, a scheming and ambitious yakuza leader, Steelhead wins the respect ofthe Chinese immigrants by establishing base or them, forming an uneasy alliance with Eguchi. After he saves, Eguchi from an assassination attempt and disposes ofa few of his rivals, heis given control of Shinjukws profitable business after dark. Later, isgusted with the life ofa gangster, Steelhead starts a tractor repair business outside Tokyo. He seems to have every chance of starting a new life with his new love Lily, played by #@zk2 (Fan Bingbing). But when he finds out thathis former compatriots are now being used by Eguchi to front the yakuze's drug business, he decides to go back and confront his “brothers” to set things right. ‘The movie mentions, as an end note, that thousands of illegal immigrants from the mainland used to go to Japan every year, some of whom dida't ‘even make it beyond the shore. This is the directr’s way of telling us that ‘he movie's fictional inventions have a certain factual basis. Indeed, Yee has ‘been one of the few local directors to trade repeatedly in realisin, that rarest of screen commodities in Hong Kong. His directorial debut, the award- winning (IPEE®) (The Lunatics), tooka brutally honestlook at how mental patients are treated and mistreated in Hong Kong. Apparently inspired by his insistence on authenticity and attention to detail, Chow Yun- fat, Tony Leung Chiw-wai and 2) (Paul Chun) all turned in outstanding performances. in the heyday of Hong Kong cinema, when local movies| ‘were hitting new levels of bombast that even Hollywood would consider overkill, Yee seemed underwhelmed by the spectacle that was wowing the restofus.Sohe made (8 74) (Cesta Vie Mon Cheri), a movie that, ‘despite its melodramatic flourishes, offers a vivid, even alarming sense of life on Mongiok’s Temple Street, where failed musicians rub shoulders with struggling artists and streetwalkers, all doing their best to make ends meet. He again demonstrated his impeccable sense of place in. (E3872) (One Nite in Mongkok), which perhaps captures the nervous energy and the disorderly order of Mongkok better than any other movie. Inassimilar vein, Shinjuku Incident, despite having the usually heroic Jackie Chan as its central characte, is more life-sized than larger-than-life. ‘The movie is les about heroism than the tedious, hard work of staying alive. Everything ison a human scale, including the fights. Those in the audience who have come for gore and violence, also hallmarks of Yee's signature style, will not be disappointed. The most shocking scene is the one in which members ofa rival gang cut off one of Daniel W's palms and bury it under some chestnuts in a roasting pan. This rivals ~ though not 08 mmm ONCE A HERO REINVENTING HEROISM {uke surpasses the scene in his lat film (F542) Protégé) where wesee dogs bite offsundry parts ofthe dead body ofa junkie played by e399} (Chane Jingchu)- But che gang fights and assassination scenes in Shinjuku Tneident, though excitingly staged, are presented notes an occasion foe slory or exhilaration, but as either Nees conservative and humanistic sentimental styeofflmmaking is ‘erolutely old-fashioned. He creates confit, defines characters, sharpens fensions and, in general, shapes the material for drama and suspense, Hie Pulls off high-tension scenes in mastery fashion, and he mates insistent emotional demands on viewers to identify with the here But Steelhead has a moral ambiguity that sets him apart from the other roles Chan has played in his long career as Hong Kong's pre-eminent Action man. He isa straight arrow and good leader, but he sno saint--he kills when he has to. In the final set pice ofthe movie, when steelhead confronts his compatriots ~inciuding Je who has tuned ino stoned: ou, Wig-donning monster the film makes this subversive observation: the Chinese cannot be trusted with power. IFthey have it, they will abuse i Tey ate therefore, much beter a surviving than building or governing. Zhisis probably the ast thing that the increasingly affluent and power fat China wants to hear, and could be the real reason behind the Chinese government's decision to ban the film. Hong Kong used to be a formidable movie-malking machine, and Shinjuku Jncident is undoubtedly a Hong Kong cinema product, with decades of ‘efined narrative technique behind it. Butsomchov, ata deeper level, it also feels erily un-tHong Kong. That brings us back to Jackie Chan and {herolehe plays here. Chan, at curns out, ean embody a Moses figure ‘ea without his usual super-human qualities, which may be the highest ‘achievement for an action hero, Though hs body has become less powerful REINVENTING HEROISM and compact, there's stil if in his aging limbs. Buthis eyes are sad ancl old, And they have that faraway look that suggests he would rather be somewhere else. The forthright, unstoppable Jackie Chen of (HFS BF} @olce Story) has been anesthetized, into the Jackie Chan of this, movie. Chan, ofcourse, has aged. But perhaps Hong Kong cinema has aged even more, Hong Kong movies come loaded these days, with ideas about how to make themselves more mainland-like, ort least more ‘mainland-fiendly. Filmmakers from #823 (Ann Hui) to BEA: (Peter Chan), from 4/98 (Andrew Lau) to Derek Yee, fel obliged to add China, elements to theit movies. ‘Near the end of shinjuku Incident, Jackie Chan gives the motley crew of Chinese immigrants — including a wise guy from Hong Kong played by # JE (Chin Kalo ~a leewure on brotherhood and solidarity, and I find ‘myself thinking, OK, we get the point; mainlanders have always been the patriots, now they can be the heroes in Cantonese cinema too, ‘larger issue sat stake here, What will become of Hong Kong cinema ~ i or what’ left of it -when its filmmakers stop seeking inspiration from the j city and making heroes ofits people? MITHE WARLORDS (4H) Directed by Peter Chan Ho-sun DEaTE ith FB, Andy Lau BIGB% Takeshi Kaneshiro isi, Xu jingle RB Released December 1, 2007 Onthe cover of the launch issue of the magazine (#38388) (Hong Kong Film), in Novernber 2007, is afietce-looking tt Johnny To) in dark glasses, holding in his mouth a cigar that would fire the imagination of ‘2 Freudian interpreter, Identified as “K(&” (‘Big Brother’) in the cover lines, he is pictured rectining on a revolver-shaped couch. In the same issue, $29 (Isui Hark) and #84 (Ringo Lam) -who directed (=A 89 (Triangle) sequentially with Johnny To, as 2 sort of arly team are seen in sunglasses and dark suits with white shirts. If Quentin Tarantino ‘ever decides to make a Hong Kong version of Reservoir Dogs, he will know where to find his cast. Atatime when most ocal filmmakers are desperately struggling to ONCE A HERO mm wont keep their heads above water, such blatant displays of macho bravado ate | like the shameless flaunting of one's wealth infront of the poor. And since Johnny To, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam al left their marks on Hong Kong i

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